"And in those simple beautiful movements I remembered what was really important in training; that consistency trumps intensity; all the time. That intensity is born from consistency. That one cannot force it, one has to lay in wait for it, patiently, instinctively, calmly and be ready to grab it when Grace lays it down in front of you."

Monday, April 14, 2008

Speed Swings.

Sunday morning kettlebells in the Wine Country. Just an incredible view from the house of the Russian River.

Tracy and I had a great weekend up in the wine country with some friends, but travel, eating out and late nights drinking wine are not my norms and boy could I feel it today! I missed last weeks swing workout when I subbed in snatches on Saturday and I knew swings would be extra hard today because of that.Tracy of course trained on Sunday with Gayle on the deck of their house and 'sweated out' the wine.Not me :))

Swings are my 'leg' exercise and when I skip or back down I lose leg power fast( what little there is,lol). Strengths stay strong with little or no training ( my upper body) but weakness get super weak super fast.One must train what's weak to ever have any hope of real, long term improvement.

So I chose the 24 kg today and not the two pood, which would have been some very slow, low power swings,not the best thing for me when I'm feeling weak. Speed was the solution and I was itching to try 15:15 with one arm swings so off we went.

One arm swings 15:15

16kgx5/5/5/5x2

24kgx 15:15 x 9 reps per set 25 sets 225 reps 11,925 lbs

one minute rest

x8 reps per set 15 sets 120 reps 6360 lbs

total reps :345

total sets: 40

total lbs 18,285

total time : 20 min.

MAN! this was way tough! Even though I was beat I had visions of 50 sets with this weight and 9 reps per 15 as a starting point and LOL, was I surprised! It started well but 9 reps in 15 sec is fast and you have to pull the bell down. and the 15 sec rest seemed to evaporate more and more each set. HR was about 170-18 pretty quickly and I used Hardstyle technique and biomechanical breathing exclusively which was perfect. Lots of speed and power on each rep.

BUT, there was no way I was making 50 sets much less at 9 rep pace so after 25 reps I took a minute rest and continued on with 15 more sets of 8 reps,which was easier but not THAT much easier. I was cooking. HR 180 plus. Dynamic effort swings,with compensatory acceleration for every rep, really creates huge forces for each rep and man could I feel it.

I actually think it's too fast for this day,especially with snatch vo2 coming up with only one days rest. perhaps 15-20 sec of work per arm, then double the time for rest. make it more of a strength and power protocol.This will be especially important on two pood day.

Transfers

24kg x20 reps x 5 sets

100 reps

5300 lbs

total swing reps 445

this was just mileage, to get my numbers up. But, transfers work my legs even more than regular swings as I am letting go much earlier and there is no tension in the arms or shoulders at the top.just the root.

Two Hand Swipe

15 lb cb x10/10 x3

25 lb cb x 8/8x3

these were good and two hands was perfect. I didnt want to isolate my left elbow at all with regular swipes as it is still a bit touchy.

8 comments:

Great post and great training session. Two things I tuned into that I can immediately put to use are 1) weaknesses must be trained more often than strengths 2) swing transfers work the legs more. Thanks!

i'm actually the same way. i feel wierd the next day after a couple of beers, and i'm 26. my dad was in town this weekend and today (wed.) is the first day i've felt somewhat normal. have you been sensitive to alcohol your whole life?

i used to live a very unhealthy lifestyle and i thought that since i do KBs frequently and don't drink very often, that i wouldn't feel the effects as much when i do drink. it appears the opposite is true.

i guess it affects different people in different ways, but its very interesting and this german will have a hard time giving up drinking beer for good, lol!